1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nail printing device including a printing head that performs printing on a fingernail, and to a printing control method.
2. Description of Related Art
Published Japanese Translation of International Patent Publication No. 2003-534083 proposes a nail printing device that prints nail designs with varieties of colors, patterns and the like on a fingernail. If the nail printing device as described above is used, then a user can easily enjoy nail printing at home or the like, without having to go to a shop such as a nail salon.
Incidentally, as shapes of a tip end portion of the nail, there are a plurality of shapes such as point, oval, round, square-off, and square. In the case of implementing the nail design for the nail at the nail salon or the like, the shape of the nail is selected in response to the preference of the user, the nail design desired to be implemented, and the like before implementing the nail design for the nail. Then, in general, a shape-adjusting (or filing) operation for adjusting the tip end portion of the nail to a desired shape is performed in such a manner that a special technician files the nail of the user by a file and the like.
In terms of this point, in the case where the user performs the nail printing at home or the like by the nail printing device, it is necessary for the user to perform such a shape-adjusting operation for the nail by him/herself.
However, it is extremely difficult for an ordinary person who is not accustomed to such an operation to determine which part of the nail and to which extent the nail should be filed for adjusting the tip end portion of the nail to the desired shape.
That is to say, since a size, shape, extension degree and the like of the nail differ among the respective fingers, such a spot to be filed and such a filing extent must be decided in response to a status of each of the nails.
Moreover, for the purpose of accurately specifying the spot to be filed, it is also conceived for the user to make, on the nail, a rough copy of such a filing subject spot by him/herself before the shape-adjusting operation; however, in particular, in the event of adjusting a shape of a nail of the dominant hand, it is difficult to make a rough copy of the filing subject spot on the nail by him/herself, and it is far more difficult to file the nail as desired.
Therefore, in the case where the user performs the shape-adjusting operation for the nail by him/herself, there have been problems that matching is not achieved among lengths and shapes of the nails already subjected to the shape adjustment, that a total balance among the nails is deteriorated, that the nails cannot help but being given up from the adjustment to the desired shapes since the nails are filed too much, and so on.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the circumstances as described above. It is an object of the present invention to provide a nail printing device and a printing control method, which enable even a user who is not accustomed to the shape adjustment of the nail to easily adjust the nail to the desired shape.